Description/Abstract
Bars, pubs, and taverns can provide important spaces for creating and maintaining relationships in a community. This is especially true in rural areas where social infrastructure may be limited. However, bars, pubs, and taverns can also facilitate and normalize alcohol misuse – a health behavior linked to numerous poor health outcomes. This brief uses data from the 2022 Rural Health and Engagement Survey to examine relationships between time spent in bars and heavy drinking. The authors show that individuals who spend time in bars are at greater risk of heavy drinking than those who spend no time in bars, and risk of heavy drinking is especially high among those who socialize with others for most of the time they are in bars.
Document Type
Research Brief
Keywords
Alcohol, heavy drinking, rural communities
Disciplines
Place and Environment | Rural Sociology | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Sociology
Date
4-2-2024
Language
English
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge editorial support from Alyssa Kirk and Shannon Monnat. Rhubart and Kowalkowski acknowledge support from a pilot grant from the Department of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University. Rhubart also acknowledges infrastructural support from the NICHD-funded Population Research Institute at Penn State(P2CHD041025) and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Multistate Research Project W5001: Rural Population Change and Adaptation in the Context of Health, Economic, and Environmental Shocks and Stressors (#PEN04796, Accession #7003407).
Funder(s)
The NICHD-funded Population Research Institute at Penn State(P2CHD041025) and The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Multistate Research Project W5001: Rural Population Change and Adaptation in the Context of Health, Economic, and Environmental Shocks and Stressors
Funding ID
#PEN04796, Accession #7003407
Recommended Citation
Rhubart, Danielle, Kowalkowski, Jennifer, and Li, Yiping. (2024). Spending Time Socializing in Bars Increases the Risk of Heavy Drinking. Lerner Center Population Health Research Brief Series. Research Brief #114. Accessed at: https://surface.syr.edu/lerner/249/
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
